Sugar refining control



June 5,1945. I w H. KI DD 2,377,634

SUGAR REFINING CONTROL Filed Jan 11, 1941 INVENTOR M44407- h. A700 Patented June 5, 1945 sucaa aarmmc coN'mor.

Wilmot H. Kidd, Sharon, Mass, asslgnor to The Foxboro Company, Foxboro, Mass, a corpora tion of Massachusetts Application January 11, 1941, Serial No. 374,023

4 Claims.

This invention relates to the refining of sugar and more particularly to a method and apparatus for controlling the carbonation of a limed solution of, raw or incompletely refined sugar. It is an object of the invention to securemore eflicient carbonation of such a solution.

The many objects and advantages of the present invention may best be appreciated by reierring to the accompanying drawing which shows diagrammatically apparatus capable of carrying'out the method of the present invention. The specific embodiment shown in the drawing will be described as applied to the car bonation of raw beet juice in a beet sugar refining process although it will be apparent that both method and apparatus may be used in the refining of other types of sugar solutions.

carbonation unit shown may be operated either as a continuous process or as a batch process and the continuous process will be described first.

In the operational a beet sugar plant the raw [beets are commonly washed, sliced, and then passed through a diiiusion battery wherein the sugar is leached fromthe slices by hot water and weak sugar solutions. One or the dimculties of the refining process is the fact that materials other than sugar, such as organic acids and their metallic salts, mineral acids and salts, decomposition products of the cell structure, and the like,

may be leached from the beet slices in the diffusion battery.

To remove certain of these impurities ,from the sugar solution, the raw beet juice is commonly subjected to a process known as carbonation.

, The hot raw juice from the diffusion battery is measured, heated, and pumped to a primary carbonation unit. Either in the carbonation unit itself or before the juice reaches the carbonation unit it is treated with an excess oi. lime which neutralizes any acids that may be present.

In the-carbonation unit, carbon dioxide gas from a suitable source is passed through the solution,

- thus causing a flocculent precipitation of cal-I cium carbonate which carries down with it certain of the impurities such as, for example, impurities colloidally suspended in the solution.

7 The preci itated calcium carbonate,. as well as the impurities associated therewith. may be subsequently separated from the solution by sedi-' "mentation and. filtration. The present invention provides method and apparatus for more eillciently controlling a carbonation-process or this ty e.

Referring to the drawing, raw juice from a diflusionbattery (not shown) is treated with lime and pumped through pipe H -to a carbona- 2 tion unit comprising a series of tanks i2, i3, and

II which maybe similarly constructed. The

Raw juice is continuously pumped through pipe H to carbonating tank l2 and is continuously withdrawn from tank I2 through a transfer pipe l5 and pumped to tank i3 by a'transier pump it. Tank l2 may be provided as shown with a suitable liquid level regulator which regulates a valve "a in transfer pipe ii to maintain a desired level of solution in the tank.

Similar transfer lines l8 and I9, transfer pumps 20 and 2| and liquid level regulators 22 and 23 are provided in connection with tanks l3 and II for continuouslytransierring solution 'from tank It to tank I4 and from tank ll to a sedimentation or filtration unit (not shown). The tanks l2, l2, and I may be provided as shown withheating coils 24, stirring paddles or agitators", and vent pipes 26. Agitator-s 2! may be driven by any suitable means not shown) and may be provided not only with I paddles for agitating the solution but also with paddles located above the liquid level to aid in destroying any foam that might be formed above the liquid. Tanks l2, l2, and I4 are also provided with pipes 21, 28, and 29, respectively.

through which milk-of-lime suspension or re-' cycled sugar solutions, such as sacch'arate solutions, may be supplied to the respective tanks.

Each of the tanks l2, l3, and II receives a continuous supply of carbon dioxide gas from a suitable source, the gas being dispersed through the sugar solution by means of perforated rings or spargens 30. The gas bubbles up through the solution in the tank and reacts with the lime suspension to precipitate calcium carbonate as described above.

As shown in the drawing, the source of carbon dioxide gas may be a lime kiln 3| oiwell-known construction. The kiln 3|. is charged with limestone and coke in the usual manner and air for combustion is drawn into the bottom 0:! the kiln by suction which may be provided by a suitable Dump orblower 32 located in the exhaust gas "line 33 from the kiln. Calcined lime from the kiln 3| falls into a hopper 34 from which it is carried y a conveyor belt 35 to a lime slaker (not shown) for conversion into a milk-of-lime S p nsion. The exhaust gas from the kiln passing through the line 83 contains a proportion of carbon dioxide gas which remains fairly constant so long as the operation oi the kiln is reasonably uniform.

. Blower 32 pumps the gas through a discharge Pipe 36 to a water scrubber 21 of well-known type where dust is removed from the gas and the gas is cooled. From the scrubber 31, the cleaned gas passes through pipe 38 and branch pipes 39, 40, and II to the perforated rings 30 of the carbonating tanks and thence into the sugar solution as described above. Branch pipes 39, 40, and H are provided with shut-oil valves 42, 43, and 44, respectively.

In operating carbonation equipment of the type described, it is desirable that the solution be maintainea somewhat on the alkaline side. In continuous carbonation plants, the lime is usually added to the raw juice as milk-of-lime by some suitable continuous flow mechanism such as a variable speed dipping bucket and it is desirable that the carbon dioxide gas flow be regulated to maintain the pH of the juice in the carbonation tank at a desired value which may, for example, be approximately equivalent to 1.5 grams of calcium oxide per liter. Under conditions of manual operation of the carbonation unit, it may require the full time attention of an operator to keep a hand-operated gas valve properly adjusted for a given rate of milk-of-lime addition. Commonly with manual operation the pH of the carbonation liquor is found to vary as much as two to three pH units. a

The present invention provides automatic cone trol of the flow of gas to the carbonation tank to provide more uniform and more efficient carbonation. Located in pipe 38 there is an orifice plate more nearly constant value.

which serves to create in pipe 38 a differential pressure which is a function of the volume of gas flowing therethrough. This differential pressure is transmitted through pipes 46 and 41 to a flow controller 48. The differential pressure measuring element of the flow controller 48 may be of the type described in Bristol Patent 1,592,415 issued July 13, 1926. The flow controller 48 may advantageously have incorporated therein control mechanism of the type described in Mason Reissue Patent 20.092, reissue September 1, 1936. The controller mechanism operates to produce a pneumatic pressure which is a function of the differential pressure produced bythe orifice restriction 45 and hence is a function of the rate of gas flow through the pipe 38.

. Compressed air to operate the controller 48 is supplied through an air pipe 49 from a suitable source (not shown). The controlled pneumatic pressure produced by the controller 48 communicates through a pipe 50 with'a pneumatic diaphragm motoril which is connected by a lever 52 to a suitable valve. such as the butterfiy valve 53, in the pipe 36. Valve 53 regulates the rate of flow of gas in pipe36 and hence the rate at which gas is permitted to flow to the carbonation tanks I2, I3, and l4. The control. point of flow controller 48 is made adjustable in well-known manner so that the flow of gas to the carbonation tanks may be adjusted to and controlled at such a value as to maintain the pH of the solution within the carbonation tanks at a desired value. Thus more uniform and efficient operation of the carbonation process is obtained than has heretofore been possible.

Furthermore, since the rate of flow of gas in pipe 36 is maintained by controller 48 at a substantially constant value, the uniformity of opera- Iilon ==of the kiln 3I is improved because the amount of air drawn into the bottom of the kiln for combustion purposes is to some extent regulated. This regulation of intake air gives a more'uniform lime burning zone within the kiln and helps to prevent such difliculties in the operation of the kiln a arching of the limestone, under-burning and over-burning of the limestone, and the like. Furthermore, in providing more uniform conditions within the kiln for the limeburning process, it maintains the carbon dioxide content of the exhaust gases from the kiln at a Thus not only the volume but also the weight of carbon dioxide passing through the carbonation liquor in a given unit of time is more nearly constant and results in more uniform carbonation'of the sugar solution, this holding the pH of the solution at a more nearly constant value.

I As noted above, the apparatus shown in the drawing may be used for batch-carbonation. In batch operation, the tanks I2, I3, and I4 are filled with limed sugar solution and gas is supplied to the tanks in the same manner as described above. When the precipitation has taken place to the desired extent, the solution and precipitate are pumped from the tank and a new batch pumped in. Draw-off pipes 54, 55, and 56, together with the necessary shut-oil valves, are provided in transfer pipes I5, I8, and I9 for use in batch operation so that the tanks may be emptied independently of one another. I

In batch operation, there is an interval between the end of one batch and the beginning of another batch when the gas flowing through pipe 38 must be vented to the atmosphere and apipe 51 and shut-off valve 58 are provided for this purpose. Such a vent is necessary because .theflowpf gas from the kiln must be maintained continuously in order that sufficient-air may ,be introduced into the kilnto supp'orfiand maintain combustion. If the controller 48 re notprovided this venting operation would relatively wide variations in the press p e,3a{'andf-thus tend to vary the'rate of pr'odu kiln 3I. The controller48 main his the volume of gas flowing in pipe 38 and hencethe volume of air supplied to the kiln constantirrespective of whether vent valve 58 is open or closed and thus gives more uniform operation of the kiln.

From the abovedescription it should be apparent that the present invention provides an improved method and apparatus for more uniformly and efiiciently controlling the carbonation of a limed sugar solution. Since many embodiments might be made of the above invention and since many changes might be made in the embodiment disclosed, it is to be understood that all matter herein disclosed is to be construed as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. In apparatus for carbonating a limed sugar solution, in combination, a carbonating unit com prising one or more containers for said solution, a source of carbon dioxide. containing gas at a variable pressure, a conduit for conducting said gas from said source to said carbonating unit.- means for measuring the flow of gas in said conduit, and'means responsive to said flow of gas for maintaining the flow in said conduit at a. desired value.

2. In apparatus for carbonating a limed sugar solution, in combination, a carbonating unit comprising one or more containers for said solution. a source of carbon dioxide containing gas at a variable pressure, a conduit for conducting said gas from said source to said carbonating unit, and a flow controller responsive to the flow of. gas in said conduit for maintaining said flow of gas at a desired value.

3. A method of partially refining an'unrn'ned sugar solution which comprises the steps 0! add- 1118 to said solution at a predetermined constant rate a quantity of lime suspension, supplying a carbon dioxide containing as irom a kiln to said solution to form a precipitate to remove impurities from said solution, measuring the flow of said gas to said solution, and controlling the measured flow of said gas at a predetermined constant rate which is in predetermined relation with the rate at which said lime suspension is added to said solution.

4. In 87mm! 101' 082mm I limed 811881 10 constant value.

solution, in combination, a carbonating unit comprising one or more containers for said solution, a

kiln for supplying carbon dioxide containing gas to said carbonating unit, a conduit connecting WILMOT H, KIDD. 

